Simple Tasks
by LockBox22
Summary: Casey thought it was a simple task. Fix the hard drive filled with classified materials. It wasn't too much to ask of a colleague; was it?
1. Part 1

CHAOS

Simple Tasks

Written By LockBox22

o0o

Casey paced back and forth in front of his desk. It was late, too late to still be in the damn building; but unfortunately, he couldn't leave yet. The object of his angst sat on his desk. He stopped pacing and turned to glare at the thing that holding him back; the thing was making him waste valuable time and energy.

The presence at the doorway made him turn. She didn't speak; just went straight to the desk, placing her clipboard and files down. He looked her over; sharp eyes taking in details that most people would have missed. She was wearing royal blue today; the colour that worked best with her dark hair and eyes. The dark pants were standard issue, but what wasn't was the equipment that stuck out of every possible pocket space.

"What did they do to you? Poor baby." She muttered running her hands over the broken machine; her fingers found the dents, cracks, and general misuse the portable computer had suffered. The silver necklace slipped free from the confines of her shirt and dangled over the air.

"Are you going to fix or pet it?" Casey asked with his usual charm.

The tech - Kennedy Flynn - didn't look up at him. "Computers are to be respected, Agent. Obviously, you've been neglecting this one." She replied without any malice. She sighed as she replaced the computer on the desk gently. "I'd ask, but..."

"Classified." Casey replied shortly before she could finish.

Kennedy nodded. "Of course." She turned back to the machine. Her delicate fingers found the single bullet hole that had been the last straw to put the machine out of it's misery. She pulled something from her pocket and then reached inside the hole. She withdrew the bullet that had lodged itself inside the computer's innards with a pair of tweezers and held it out towards him.

Casey held out his hand and she dropped the metal into the palm of his hand. He looked up at her, finding that she had almost invaded his personal space. "Souvenir." She told him quietly before turning around, back to the desk.

He closed his fist around the bullet, feeling the smooth edges and moved closer to Kennedy. She didn't flinch at his presence behind her. "I might be able to fix it." She replied to his wordless question. She was unscrewing the base of the computer now with a quick gestures that spoke of many hours of practice. "If your hardware is intact then it's just a matter of getting a new body."

"How long?" Casey asked shortly.

"A week, maybe longer." She replied still not looking up at him. He looked at her intently and this time she did look up. "Ok, four days." She admitted. Casey nodded, pleased she was going to be quick. She gave him a small smile of respect, knowing that he had was testing the limits of her skills.

She turned back to her work and deftly removed the cover of the machine and carefully pulled out a piece of the computer's innards. It was intact; with a tiny bit of damage in the left-hand corner. She grinned at the sight of the pristine little machine. "Perfect."

She replaced the screwdriver into her back pocket and then reached towards her clipboard, holding it and a pen that had magically appeared in her hand towards him. "I need your signature."

Casey took the pen and scribbled his usual scrawl at the bottom of the page. He noted that she had already taken the liberty of filling out of the rest of the form for him. He handed the pen back to her. "Is forging an agent's handwriting part of technical training, Flynn? People get thrown into jail for less."

She took the pen from his grasp. "I'll take my chances." She retorted. She gathered up the ruined computer and the files that she had been carrying when she first came in. "We really have to stop meeting like this, you know." She told him, turning back to face the older agent. Her dark eyes sparkled in jest. "People might start talking."

"Let 'em talk." Casey replied, placing a hand into his pocket. "Spies gossip; it's in the job description. What matters is that the people involved know the truth."

"And what truth would that be, Agent Malick?" Kennedy asked rhetorically, already halfway out the door. The door clicked shut behind her, effectively ending the conversation.

Casey sighed quietly as he leaned back against the desk. "That Michael is going to be absolutely thrilled." He muttered sarcastically under his breath.

With a sigh, he pushed himself up and walked towards the door. It was another day and a half before his partner decided to inquire about the computer. And Casey suspected that he only asked because they were bouncing in the back of a truck on their way to the target and the other man was bored.

It was a little known secret that only Casey knew. When there was no action, no escape plan, or scenario to occupy his mind, their fearless team leader became bored. And when he became bored, he delegated his mind to thinking about bits and pieces of other information. Casey could tolerated it as it was always case orientated. He dreaded the day when his partner decided to pursue personal matters.

Today however, his dread went both ways.

"You did _what_?"

Michael's tone of displeasure was made even more evident by the way the other, dark-haired agent turned to glare at his older partner. Unfortunately -being in a moving truck – Michael's gesture almost gave him whiplash _and_ a concussion as the truck bounced over another pothole.

Casey was relieved that Michael didn't bash his head against the ceiling. It would have made the team leader glare for days on end; the man needed a sense of humour. "I gave it to someone." He repeated. "Do I need to say it again?"

"No." This time Michael did glare. "I heard you the first time. I just didn't believe that you would do something so stupid; let alone trust someone with information like that."

"Oh, please. It's three days." Casey reminded him. "Just until this mission is over. And it wasn't just anyone. The drive hasn't even left the building."

They bumped over another pothole, sending them sliding to one side. Michael banged on the back of the cab with his fist angrily. "Since when did we agree that Billy would drive?" He grumbled, leaning back in his seat.

"Since he looked more native." Casey replied. The truck shook once again, sending them a few inches into the air. "He's worse then a London cabbie." He agreed. "Next time, I'll drive."

"That thought scares me even more." Michael muttered under his breath. He glared again, but it was softer this time. "Three days?"

"Three days." Casey confirmed. "It'll be fixed and ready to use by the time we get back."

"I hope you're right." Michael sighed. Casey could see the wheels turning in the other man's mind and knew that Michael was thinking about four dozen different ways that his decision could go wrong. It didn't bother him. It was how he thought and it had saved them from more then a few scrapes.

They hit another bump and just about flew through the roof. Casey scrambled to regain his seat. "Ok! That's it." He exclaimed, banging on the small grate that separated the cab from the bed. "Collins!"

o0o

Two days later, they were back on American soil. As they were unloading their bags from the car, Casey's cell phone rang. It was Kennedy Flynn. He picked up. "Hello?"

"_Casey, I just wanted to let you know that there was an issue with the hard-drive you sent me. I'm going to need you to meet me."_

Casey? He didn't know they were on a first name basis. "Sure. We're just walking to the building now."

"_Um, I'm not at the office. I had to bring it home. Can you meet me here? You remember the address, right?" _

Trap. It had to be a trap. "Yeah. I can do that. I can be there in thirty minutes."

"_Ok. I'll see you then. Bye." _

Casey hung up the phone. He waited until Billy and Rick had gone on ahead before turning to Michael. "We have a problem."

Michael looked at him from where he was bending over the trunk. The other man straightened up at the look on his partner's face.

"The person I left the disc with?" Casey continued. "She just called me. Someone's got her."

"Trap?" Michael asked.

Casey nodded. "Trap. You in?"

Michael closed the trunk. "I'm in."

It took them a few minutes to get the address and then another twenty minutes to get to the location. Casey entered the house first. It was clear except for Kennedy who was tied to a chair in the living room. Casey quickly went over to her and removed the tape from her mouth, and hands.

"Where are they?" He asked.

Kennedy started to speak, but Casey watched as her eyes got wide. "Look out!" She shouted.

She ducked as the man behind Casey broke a chair over the agent's head. She scrambled backwards, tripped and landed on her butt as Casey fell to the floor. She grabbed the computer from the floor and scooted under the table.

Michael sprung into action from the entrance way where he had been hiding, firing several shots towards the man. The assassin ducked all of them. The man brought up his weapon and fired a shot by the entrance way, it went through the wall, stopping Michael in his tracks.

"I will shoot you." The man warned. "Come out."

Michael stepped into the open. He motioned for the agent to release his weapon.

Michael lowered the gun and then tossed it at the assassin, taking the weapon out of the other man's hand. He rushed the assassin. Blows were traded with the assassin coming out on top. He had Michael backed up against a wall when Casey came to.

There was a reason why people called him the human weapon. He launched himself at the assassin from the floor, tackled him around the waist and took him down. From there it was only a strategic blows before the man was rendered unconscious and incapacitated.

"Hand me that tape." Casey said, holding out his hand. Michael passed him the tape, picked up his discarded gun and then went over to the table where Kennedy was hiding.

"You can come out now."

Kennedy looked up as she heard Micheal's voice. She scooted out from under the table, computer clutched tight to her chest. He walked closer and she looked up at him. He held out a hand to her. The other held his gun.

She took his hand and he helped her up. She looked around the room, noting the mess and Casey tying up the man in the corner. Shakily, she brushed her bangs back into place. "What the hell is on this drive?" She whispered.

Casey walked over to them. "Never mind. You need to tell me why you decided to bring _that_ home with you." He nodded to the drive.

"I work from home." Kennedy was defensive. "It's fixed by the way. I did it on the level. I have security."

"Obviously you need to get better security." Michael said. He raised an eyebrow. "Or learn better self-defence."

Kennedy frowned at him. Casey knew that look. She was disgusted, wither it was at the suggestion or Michael's attitude, he wasn't sure. "Just tell me what happened." He said, drawing her attention away from the team leader.

She sighed. "He cornered me on the street, just outside the house. He asked for the drive, like he knew I'd have it with me or something. I played dumb. He followed me and then broke the door down and came after me."

"So you ran? Hid?" Casey asked.

"Um, both. I..." Kennedy took a deep breath and tried to stop shaking. "I...uh..."

Casey grabbed her upper arms and squeezed gently. "It's ok." He said, though he knew that his voice didn't sound very comforting. "Just take a moment."

She nodded and took another deep breath.

Michael leaned in behind him. "I need to talk to you." He said in a low tone. The team leader walked over into the corner and waited for Casey to catch up.

Casey looked over at Kennedy who still looked shaken. "I'll be back." He told her in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. She nodded. She still clutched the computer tight to her chest. He had a feeling that she wasn't about to let it go anytime soon.

Casey walked over to Michael and braced himself for a lecture that the leader of their group was fond of giving.

Michael didn't wait long. "What are you doing?" He demanded.

"Talking to a witness about the man who broke into her home." Casey replied even though he knew that's not what the other man meant.

"There's too much at stake for me to be concerned with your office romance." Michael told him. "You either get your head in the game or I pull you out of it."

"There is no 'office romance' as you put it." Casey said. "We have a professional relationship which I took advantage of. Considering her skills, would you have done otherwise?" Michael didn't reply. "Anyways. It's my mess, so you won't pull me out of the game because you need me to fix it."

"Don't be so quick to think that I'm bluffing." Michael said. He sighed. "Usually, I give Billy this lecture not you. Why her?"

"It's professional. Not personal." Casey reassured him. "We need her to be calm so she tells us everything she knows. Usually this is the moment when I would let Billy or Rick do the talking, but it's just us now. One of us has to be nice."

Michael half smiled. "Nice, huh? I never thought I'd hear you say that word."

He shrugged. "Well, there's a first time for everything I guess. You want to be good cop, or shall I?"

Michael shook his head with a grin. "Let's both try to be a good cop and see where that gets us, Malik."

"Uh, Agent Malik?"

Casey and Michael turned towards Kennedy. She held out the computer to them with a bullet hole in the middle of the casing. "We have a problem."


	2. Part 2

o0o

Part 2

"Uh, Agent Malik?"

Casey turned at Kennedy's tentative voice. He was mildly surprised that she would interrupt them and by the tone in her voice whatever it was had her worried.

She held out the computer drive. "We have a problem."

He noticed the "little" problem and had to fight to not let his true reaction show. The little hole was almost square in the middle of the classified computer drive, straight through the housing and delicate components inside. He could see daylight through that hole. "Can you fix it?"

"I don't know." Kennedy replied. She switched the drive to her other hand. "I don't know if it even works."

Casey and Michael exchanged a glance; they both knew that tone. Casey was slightly disappointed to hear it coming from her.

"What do you want?" Michael asked with a slight curl of his lip. He hated bargaining and Casey didn't entirely disagree with him. He beginning to hate it too, even more today as it was coming from a so called "friend."

"I need to plug it in." Kennedy said. She pointed to the mess on her living room floor. "And that was my agency laptop."

Michael was already shaking his head. "No, not going to happen. We don't even know if you have the proper security clearance."

We meaning he. "You can give it to her." Casey said. Silence fell on the room, as he turned to look at the team leader. In in the background, Kennedy was nodding her head. "It's what she wants, Michael."

They both turned back to Kennedy. She crossed her arms. "Or else you can have someone else fix your mess. I'm not doing anything else until I know what the hell I risked my life for."

Michael turned to Casey. He shrugged. "She has a point."

Michael raised an eyebrow. The eyebrow was not good. Casey turned back to Kennedy. Since when did he ever pay attention to the eyebrow? "He'll do it."

This time is was Kennedy who raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because it looks like he'd rather haul me off a "walk."

Casey grinned. "Trust me. He wants this information; we both do."

She nodded. "What do we do about him?"

He glanced over at their intruder and stalked towards him. The guy was pulled to a sitting position and Casey slapped him across the face. "Wake up." It took two blows before the assassin regained consciousness with a groan.

"Why did you come here?" Casey asked with his usual tact. "Who sent you?"

The guy didn't reply. Casey heard the snick of a pocket knife and then quick as lightening, the guy cut his bonds, leap to his feet, and ran out the front door.

Casey looked at Michael, who shrugged. "Let him go. Hopefully, he'll lead up back to whoever wants this information. I'll have Billy follow him using the satellite that should be above us right now."

"That must have been one sharp knife." Casey remarked looking down at the tape on the floor.

"Or else you didn't tie him up as well as you thought." Michael shot back. He turned to Kennedy. "Where's your set-up?"

Kennedy sighed. "No wonder people don't like work with you. Follow me." She said, motioning towards the hallway.

o0o

Michael glared at the computer in front of him as Kennedy pushed past him and threw herself into the chair in front of the screens. It was a fairly simple set-up with three screens, plus a multitude of different tools and parts scattered around a large desk shoved against one wall in a dark bedroom.

Casey could see what he was thinking before the team leader even uttered the thought.

"Unsecured?" Michael asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kennedy spun in her chair to look at him. "I secured it." She took the drive from him and spun back.

Casey stepped closer to Michael. "She is the one the Agency used to upgrade their systems in May."

"Then why is she working in the Basement?" Michael asked referring to the dimly lit lower levels of Tech's workspace. He turned to look at Casey. "Yes; I've done some digging on your new friend."

Casey shrugged. "Don't know, she hasn't told me; and I haven't gone digging."

Michael smiled. "Sure you haven't. Your crush must be worse then I first thought." He turned back to the screen.

Casey stayed silent. In truth, he had pulled Kennedy's file. At first, it had seemed too good to be true; a skilled technical agent who was willing to help him out on the side, within reason of course. But the further he'd looked, he'd realized that the director had a bone to pick with her too. Of course not the Agency's director, that would have been too good to be true, but the Technical director.

Apparently, there were several reprimands in her file for going under, around, and through protocol. It had brought results, agents had come home, but the head of technology wasn't pleased and Kennedy had been "banished" to the Basement.

In the long run it would be good for her, he reflected watching her work. But her skills were about to be tested by the technology in her hand. Part of him wished that this had been a simpler task. If it had, Michael would have never found out about his technological asset. He turned his attention back to the computer screen.

Kennedy had already plugged in the drive and was starting to boot it up; the disk load was taking a while. "The systems are intact." Kennedy said. "I can hear it humming. The problem will be your data, if it's corrupted..."

"It better not be." Michael interrupted.

Kennedy shot him a look. "If it's corrupted, I can try rebuilding the directory. It'll be one file at a time, so it'll take a while."

"Just do what you have to do." Casey encouraged. "We'll be over here." He indicated the couch on the other side of the room. "Tell us when something's in English."

Kennedy nodded and swung back to the screen. She pushed a small pad of paper towards Casey and started typing. Casey took the paper and handed it to Michael.

"What's this?"

Casey smiled as he lead the way over to the couch. "Your security clearance."

Michael sighed and grabbed a pen from a nearby desk. "How much more am I going to have to give up before this is over?"

o0o

It was almost four hours later, when Kennedy's voice broke the silence in the room. "OK. I got something here."

Casey opened his eyes and stood up from the Indian pose he'd taken on the floor. Michael looked up and closed the novel he'd found lying around a couple hours ago. They both came to stand beside Kennedy at the computer desk.

She flipped through several screens before she got to what she wanted. "I'd already cracked most of the security lockouts at the office." She told them. "The redacting program covered most of the file names and such, but without that I've been able to access most of the files, or the ones that didn't require security clearance." She looked up at Michael and then back at the screen.

Casey motioned Michael to give her the pad of paper. Michael slowly laid the folded paper on the table. "If you do anything..."

Kennedy flipped the paper open and glanced at it before turning back to the screen. "I thought that's what it was. I don't need that." She typed in Michael's security clearance and the program accepted it without a problem. "Nice tradecraft by the way. Give me a slightly wrong password and then type in the correct one yourself. Agent Malik mentioned you guys like your privacy. I respect that."

"If you didn't need this then why did you..."

"Ask for it?" Kennedy grinned. "I was curious to see if I could get it. The Agency didn't have a whole lot of imagination when it came to passwords. Oh, here we go."

Casey smiled and looked over at the drive that was suspiciously missing a hole. "When did the bullet hole disappear?"

"About two and half hours ago." Kennedy replied. "I did some repair work, even had an old housing that fit perfectly too. Look at this." She turned their attention back to the screen.

Both men leaned in to take a better look. "Are those military secrets?" Casey asked.

"Highly classified military secrets." Michael clarified.

"Let me see if I can pull something else up here..." Kennedy said tapping the keyboard as she continued searching.

"Interesting." Michael murmured as he straightened up.

"What would the other side be doing with our classified military secrets?" Casey wondered.

Kennedy shrugged as she continued to search. "I don't know but there are more here. See..." She trailed off as Michael suddenly leaned forward and tapped the escape key. Casey watched as Kennedy's hand shot out and whacked his arm away, but it was too late.

"What the hell!" Kennedy exclaimed.

"We shouldn't be pouring through this stuff from here." Michael said, reacting rather well to having his hand slapped by someone half his age. "We've already been compromised."

"What about the guy who had me tied up in my living room? Shouldn't we know whose after this?" Kennedy demanded.

"We already know." Michael said. "Our colleagues tracked him to a military base about an hour ago. He's military, Kennedy; and he wants whatever is on this drive."

Kennedy turned in her chair to face Casey. He nodded to her wordless question. "We need to get you somewhere safe." He added, casting a challenging eye to the team leader. "Pack what you need, clothes that can fit in a small bag. We're taking you back to the office."

"Then what?"

"Then you stay low." Michael chimed in. "Do your work, sleep in a different place each night; you know the drill."

Kennedy sighed. "And I was just starting to like this place too." She walked towards the second doorway that Casey assumed lead to her bedroom. "Don't touch anything." Then she disappeared into the other room.

Casey turned to Michael. "She's not going to be safe for long."

"I know." Michael agreed. "But luckily she has the human weapon looking out for her."

"Don't call me that." Casey said irritably.

"Whatever you say, Casanova." Michael smirked.

Inwardly, Casey sighed with relief. Michael was smiling, which meant he was planning. It was good to have a man who thought ten steps ahead on your side. "What's our next move?"

"We find out why our military secrets are floating around Asia, and we put a stop to it. At the same time reassuring the US Armed Forces that we're not the ones who took them in the first place."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to be the one who "reassures" our friends in Intelligence." Casey said darkly.

Michael smiled. "I'd thought you'd never ask. I'll get Collins to help you get inside."

o0o

It didn't take Kennedy long to grab her things. Michael took her and her car back to Agency, leaving Casey free to take their car to meet up with the other two members of their team. Needless to say, the two younger men were eager to be apart of the operation.

"What's my story?" Casey asked, taking the black flat case that Martinez held out through the car window.

"CIA Agent here to consult on one of the many cases that we currently have running." Collins replied, leaning on the driver's door to talk to him. "Once inside you can move about the offices and find the intelligence officer that held your girlfriend hostage. Is she cute?"

"Thanks." Casey ground out. "Stay here."

"You don't want some back up?" Collins asked leaning out the car window. "One of us to hold him down while you..."

Casey kept walking and Collins waved an annoyed hand at him. His offer wasn't tempting in the least. Casey wasn't interested in beating the tar out of the man as Collins was swift to suggest. Kennedy meant no more to him then just another asset; no, that was the wrong way to put that.

She was beneficial to him, made his job easier, and didn't want anything from him in return; until today. Still, there was something in her phone calls that he would miss when they stopped and he knew that they would stop after this. Too dangerous, had enough, finished would be a few of the words that would enter into that conversation.

He handed the guard his badge and receiving a pass, walked through the gate into the Pentagon. The offices were easy to find for Army Intelligence and he walked right in, brushing past the protesting secretary.

There were two men in the officer when he opened the door; one of them was clearly the officer in charge, the other one looked a little bruised. Casey knew him instantly as the man that had been inside Kennedy's home.

The man in charge rose from his desk. "What in the..."

Casey didn't give him a chance to finish. "Due to a grievous lapse in communication between our two department, your man there broke into an innocent woman's home and terrorized her, trying to get the military secrets that the CIA recovered two days ago in Asia. She's not the one who stole them."

"I don't know what..."

"Under the circumstances where you try to deny it, I am authorized to tell you that we don't forget things. We like grudges, they keep us warm during the cold nights when our fellow countrymen deny us our rights. If you want your secrets back, you can come collect them through official channels. I'm sure you'll have them back by the time your grandchild is sitting in that chair. And you might want to tell anyone in the future to check with us before you hold hostage people who work for the same government you do."

Neither man tried to say anything this time. Casey nodded and turning, walked out of the office. "Good day, gentlemen."

o0o

All three of them plus Kennedy were waiting for him when Casey returned to the office. Collins was sitting on the desk, looking down at Kennedy, who was trying to hold a smile in check. She stood when Casey walked in the door.

"You're fine." Casey said. "I don't think the military is going to be bothering you anytime soon. However, I'd still suggest you find a new place to live."

Kennedy nodded. She bit her lip. "Can I talk to you?"

Casey nodded. This was going to be it, the end of the work relationship conversation. He lead her over to a quiet corner of the room. He could feel his colleague's eyes on him every step of the way. She turned to face him. "Thank you for coming when I called, but I don't think that..."

"It's fine." Casey interrupted. "It got too dangerous, and you want out. I won't call you anymore."

Kennedy looked surprised. "No, I... No, I don't want out. I just don't want anymore classified hard-drives coming home with me. Next time, please let me know not to take it out of the office, ok?"

Now it was him turn to be surprised. "You still want to work with me?"

Kennedy laughed. "Yes! I like working with you; it makes my life interesting. And it keeps me busy and helps hone my skills, you know? It's good."

Casey didn't know what else to say. "Thank you."

She smiled. "It's no problem. Though, I assume that I'm going to have to keep things whole thing under wraps, huh?"

Casey inclined his head. "It might be a good idea; considering I just threatened the director of Army Intelligence."

Kennedy raised an eyebrow. "I'm not even going to ask. Any ideas on how to word my request for a new laptop?"

Casey grinned. "I'd leave out anything about doing a simple task for a friend."

**The End**


End file.
